Well, it would come into play in a sense that you can offer him a longer contract at a lower value. so instead of a say 15M/4 year deal, he can get a similar 12M/5years which guarantees him that last year and gives the Lakers a little cap space to sign a role player or something like that. Anyways, I don't think we'll make any sort of big deal either unless it involved a high draft pick or one that heavily favors us (such as Cousins type of trade).
Been looking over LA's recent FA hauls. Two things emerge. First, DeMar DeRozan would be one of our best adds in a long while. Second, we haven't really improved our team significantly in recent years with FA additions. They've mostly been retreads, players on the downside of their career, or guys who bolted elsewhere for money. I put the "one and done in LA" players in green, because they might as well be Celts. Biggest Additions PER is average of (up to) last three seasons Win Shares is average of (up to) last three season: 2015/16 Lou Williams 16.7 PER / 3.9 Win Shares Roy Hibbert 15.4 PER/ 5.2 Win Shares Brandon Bass 14.5 PER / 5.0 Win Shares Top 3 Average: 15.5 PER / 4.7 Win Shares 2014/15 Carlos Boozer 17.1 PER- / 5.6 Win Shares- Ed Davis 16.0 PER / 3.0 Win Shares Jeremy Lin 16.3 PER / 4.2 Win Shares Wayne Ellington 11.3 PER / 1.6 Win Shares- Ronnie Price 7.6 PER / -0.1 Win Shares Top 3 Average: 16.5 PER / 4.3 Win Shares 2013/14 Chris Kaman 15.8 PER / 1.0 Win Shares Nick Williams 13.6 PER / 2.3 Win Shares Jordan Farmar 15.8 PER / 1.9 Win Shares Wes Johnson 9.5 PER / 0.6 Win Shares- Top 3 Average: 15.1 PER / 1.7 Win Shares 2012/13 Dwight Howard 24.8 PER / 11.8 Win Shares- Steve Nash 20.9 PER / 7.2 Win Shares- Antawn Jamison 16.7 / 3.8 Win Shares Jodie Meeks 11.6 PER / 3.4 Win Shares Top 3 Average: 20.8 PER / 7.6 Win Shares 2011/12 Josh McRoberts 14.4 PER / 2.3 Win Shares Troy Murphy 14.6 PER- / 6.3 Win Shares- Jason Kapono 6.3 PER / 0.4- (Just thought I'd throw this one out there) Top 3 Average: 11.8 PER / 3.7 Win Shares 2010/11 Matt Barnes 13.0 PER / 3.7 Win Shares Steve Blake 12.7 PER / 1.1 Wins Shares- Theo Ratliff 11.1 PER / 1.2 Win Shares Top 3 Average: 12.3 PER / 2.0 Win Shares DeMar DeRozan: 20.0 PER / 5.9 Win Shares
Well we all thought we improved the team significantly by adding Lou Williams, Hibbert, and Bass. Then we saw just how awful Byron Scott was.
It should have been the equivalent of adding three average NBA players. It ended up being a cluster f*** because our coach can't utilize personnel.
It's not passing up on talent it's paying MAX to a redundant or marginal-improvement player. DeRozan is a SG. He can't play SF. He doesn't shoot 3's (sub 30%). He is good at Harden-offense, but other than that he is a slasher. He is NOT a particularly good defender. He is at 23/4/4 now and his per-36 and per-100 numbers are actually inferior to JC's. If you account for price and age difference (which also suggests that 1 is more likely to improve than the other) - there is no reason to bring him in. Now, if you think he is going to be a draw for the likes of Durant - I think you severely misjudge how their minds work. Durant doesn't need to be wooed by the great lineup. He can direct who to get, for him to join. Somehow, I don't think DeRozan is the guy. Think of the very real possibility of getting DeRozan and not being able to attract another marquee FA.
DeRozan is an All Star. I love Clarkson, but he's nowhere near the player DeRozan is. He's the best player on an 8 win team while DeRozan is the best player on the second seed in the Eastern Conference. If DeRozan plays two then Clarkson moves to the bench. Not a bad sixth man to have. I don't see how he's redundant. We desperately need someone who can get into the paint, create off the dribble, put pressure on opposing defenses. Yes Clarkson can do that, but not near the level that DeRozan can. We desperately need an infusion of talent and DeRozan is an All Star caliber player. You don't pass on that. We need to get somebody good this season. We've missed out on enough free agents.
So we get DeRozan and then nothing. How many wins? I am saying we don't go over 30, and that assuming great progress from our rookies and a competent coach. I would be willing to be that we get there even without any addition. Only coach. Is this enough? Probably. I just would love more. DeRozan is the rainy day scenario.
If we get Durant first, no one thinks we need DeRozan. We need a big. Assuming KD doesn't fly to us early in FA (and why would he?)... We need talent to keep moving forward. Putting more established players with our talent is the way to attract more FAs and to keep building our young bucks. It's also the way to attract a better coach. DD is 6'7", and 82games.com shows him playing a lot of SF. I'm not sure why a 6'7" player can't play SF. Note the height: Per 36 this season: Clarkson: 16.8/2.7/4.3/1.4/0.2 DeRozan: 22.5/4.0/4.3/1.0/0.3 And DD is an all-star, and he is sixth in voting this season. He's a legit talent, and while you might not like his shooting because of his three point percentage, he shoots 40 points better than Lou and 80 points better than Young. He's also a pretty good three point shooter from the corner: shooting 38% from there. In brief, we need talent. He can play SF. He's more than a marginal upgrade over our current wings.
I want more, too. We have two max slots. DD is the wing we add - and then we get a PnR big. Getting DD alone wouldn't be good - we'd still have many of the same problems we have now. We need a big who can do something on offense.
He is not a wing, T. He is a tall-ish PG. He is more of a Wade, in fact. We'll be adding to our relatively strong position (JC/Williams/may be Nick). We should give MAX to SF and a C. No reason to fall back onto a SG.
Who's to say we get nothing else? We have close to 60 million to spend. I think we could be much better just by firing Byron and you add in a legit All Star I absolutely believe we're above 30 wins. What are we supposed to do? Sit back do nothing and not try and add legit players in the offseason?
Yep. Watch him. He is no more suited for SF than Wade. They were nearly identical in length measurements if IIRC (were they?). But regardless of that - I just didn't like the way he played. Of course, before Wade discovering the Miami juice of life. P.S. Nope. He is a bit longer. Dwyane Wade - 2003 6' 3.75" 6' 4.75" 212 6' 10.75" 8' 6" 6.7 0 0 31.5 11' 1.5" 35.0 11' 5" 9 10.56 3.08 14 5 Demar Derozan - 2009 6' 5.5" 6' 6.5" 211 6' 9" 8' 6.5" 4.9 0 0 29.0 10' 11.5" 38.5 11' 9" 5 11.88 3.31 NA 9
Minutes by Position (82games.com): 45% of team's minutes at SF last year http://www.82games.com/1415/14TOR6.HTM#bypos 12% of team's minutes at SF in 13/14 http://www.82games.com/1314/13TOR7.HTM#bypos 15% of team's minutes at SF in 12/13 http://www.82games.com/1213/12TOR6.HTM#bypos 21% of team's minutes at SF in 12/13 http://www.82games.com/1112/11TOR7.HTM#bypos I'm just sayin'.